Tonight, 30 Rock comes back for its third season! Despite being insanely funny and getting widespread critical acclaim, 30 Rock remains one of the lowest rated shows on NBC. Even in my hyper educated, hyper media saturated social circle, I still encounter people who don't watch the show.
I don't know if it's because people associate Tina Fey with Saturday Night Live still or if people think the show will be too "insider-y" to relate to (the show is about the cast and crew of a late night television show, one much like Saturday Night Live), but whatever it is, if you're not watching 30 Rock, you should totally start.
The heart and soul of the show is without a doubt Fey's portrayal of Liz Lemon, the main character of the program and the head writer of The Girly Show (much like how Tina was the head writer of SNL). While Lemon's job is one many of us would kill to have and few will ever get, her portrayal of this character is infinitely relatable and likable.
Unlike other TV portrayals of highly coveted professions, we don't see Liz hob-nobbing with celebs, wearing expensive outfits or partying at clubs. We see her stumbling through her personal life and most of all we see her working, constantly and tirelessly. Here is one of my favorite scenes from Season 1, in which Liz has a heart to heart with her intern Cerie:
One of my favorite aspects of Liz's character is how we get to watch her experience a lot of the modern anxiety about becoming a grown up. Here is a hilarious scene of Liz drunk dialing her co-op board while she waits to hear that they accepted her offer on her very first apartment.
30 Rock does fall into the stereotypical trap of giving Liz a mortifying love life, but it doesn't bug because unlike many other women (including some other single ladies who lived in NYC), Liz's main motivation isn't finding a husband. When she does date, however, the results are pretty funny, as we see in this montage Hulu put together of her love life.
It's so refreshing to watch a tv show in which a woman's career isn't treated as an afterthought or inconvenience. Sure, Liz would love a man, but first and foremost, she loves TV, loves her job and loves her crazy work family and in particular, her boss and mentor Jack, played brilliantly by Alec Baldwin.
30 Rock airs on Thursday nights on NBC at 9:30, right after The Office. If you can't catch it on TV, you can also watch online via Hulu, NBC's site, or on iTunes.